San Diego beaches part of coastal-ecology study

Researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara sample sand at Scripps beach in La Jolla last fall. Dave Hubbard, right, is coring the sand, while Matt Kirkey is holding the sifting bag.
— Photo courtesy of Nicholas Schooler

Researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara sample sand at Scripps beach in La Jolla last fall. Dave Hubbard, right, is coring the sand, while Matt Kirkey is holding the sifting bag.
/ Photo courtesy of Nicholas Schooler

Today, another group of researchers is revisiting that data to determine how much those beaches have changed.

A team from the University of California Santa Barbara is analyzing coastal life and sand samples taken from some of the same sites — from Morro Bay, in San Luis Obispo County, to Ocean Beach — to understand the ever-changing nature of beaches.

They’re studying what’s in the sand, changes in beach width and the movement of coastal species.

Research of the coastal ecosystem has become increasingly important as communities face threats of beach erosion, development, as well as rising sea levels, a possible sign of climate change.

The updated information also could lead to better conservation and management of beaches, natural assets that draw in billions of tourism dollars and serve as homes to diverse species.

“The sandy beach is probably the most valuable habitat on Earth,” said David Revell, a coastal scientist with the project. “We really have to get a better understanding of what the beach does for us in society.”

Scientists aim to show that beaches are more than just playgrounds for vacationers and athletes. They’re also a diverse ecosystem.

“People don’t appreciate that they’re full of life,” said Jenny Dugan, one of the lead researchers on the project, funded by California Sea Grant.

As part of the beach surveys, scientists extracted sand with cores and sifted it through mesh bags. Coastal species and sand were placed in plastic bags for identification and analysis.

Scientists are in the early stages of identifying the material and comparing it to samples collected from the previous beach-ecology study more than three decades ago.

The first study was begun a few years after an oil well exploded in the Santa Barbara Channel in 1969, causing a spill that killed ocean life and provided inspiration for more Americans to care about the environment. Read about that here.

That study, published by the University of Southern California, was an inventory of the diverse life on about 60 beaches in Southern California.

The scientists in the current study want to know whether there has been a northward migration of coastal species because of changes in water temperature, a sign of global warming.

They also hypothesize that the sand supply has been reduced because of disturbances, such as development, dredging and flood control.

Dick Norris, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, said the major changes to beach ecosystems in the last 50 years have been man-made, a dynamic that has sped up change in an already ephemeral resource.

Norris, who is not connected to the study, says the findings will “give us the perspective of rate of change” of beach ecosystems, information that would be valuable to coastal communities, he said.

The current project also aims to reveal any species that are rare, declining or locally extinct. Researchers hope that information will encourage policymakers to ramp up conservation efforts and improve beach management.